Mud covers the floor and a water line near the tops of the seats shows how deep the water was shortly after the water line break.

Bill Warner,Ojai Valley News reporter

Ojai resident Michelle Thomas was in the Ojai Playhouse July 20, 2014, at a matinee screening of “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” when she became aware of something amiss.

“There I was, sitting, eating my popcorn, glued to the climactic ending moment of the film,” Thomas recalled. “I was glued. There I was. And all the sudden, my friend Robert says, 'Oh, my God, there's water.'”

From the back of the theater, someone announced a pipe had broken, she said, and the audience must evacuate. “I looked down and, indeed, dirty water was pouring into the theater, coming up toward our seat. I said, 'I'm not leaving, I want to see the end.'”